Republican Daniel Webster, a staunch conservative, came out on top in two of the most vitriolic House elections in 2010 and 2012. He first breezed to victory over outspoken Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, and then two years later overcame a flurry of attack ads from former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings and her Democratic supporters to eke out a win. Read More

Republican Daniel Webster, a staunch conservative, came out on top in two of the most vitriolic House elections in 2010 and 2012. He first breezed to victory over outspoken Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson, and then two years later overcame a flurry of attack ads from former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings and her Democratic supporters to eke out a win.

Webster was born in Charleston, W.Va., and is distantly related to his 19th century namesake, considered one of the greatest senators and orators in history. His family moved to Florida when he was 7 years old because a doctor told them the climate would help cure Webster’s sinus problems. He graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1971 with a degree in electrical engineering and began working in his family’s heating and air conditioning business. In 1972, he married Sandra Jordan, and the couple had six children. Webster eventually took over the family business. He became politically active in 1979, when he led his church’s effort to turn a house into a Sunday school, only to be refused a zoning exemption by the county commission.

Webster won a seat in the state House in 1996 and later became the first Republican speaker of the Florida House in 122 years. He sponsored a bill to ban nude performances in bars and another that would have required the legislature to study the impact of proposed laws on families. In 1998, Webster moved on to the state Senate, where he pushed to decrease the amount of gun control regulation and to restrict abortion rights. He also led legislative efforts to prolong the life of Terri Schiavo, a woman in a persistent vegetative state who became a national cause for conservatives. In 2008, he sponsored a bill requiring women to get an ultrasound test and view the results before getting an abortion.

With the backing of national Republicans, he challenged Grayson in 2010. Grayson had become a lightning rod for conservatives because of his harsh rhetoric during his two years in Congress. He once called Republicans “knuckle-dragging Neanderthals,” and on another occasion charged that the GOP solution to the health care crisis was for people to “die quickly.” His unapologetic liberalism made him a hero to the left, but Webster and Republicans believed him to be a poor fit for the more tempered politics of the district. Webster prevailed in a crowded primary with 40% of the vote. His nearest opponent was lawyer Todd Long, who finished with 23%.

In the fall, things heated up quickly. One of Grayson’s television ads dubbed Webster “Taliban Dan,” and accused him of proposing to make divorce illegal and of believing that women should submit to their husbands. A video clip of Webster in the ad, however, was taken out of context; Webster was actually asserting the opposite, according to the Orlando Sentinel, which endorsed Webster in part because of Grayson’s negative campaigning. Webster refused to debate Grayson, and to return his attacks in kind, saying, “We’re taking the high road. I’m not getting down in the dirt with him.” He focused his campaign on his opposition to the size of the federal government and the passage of President Barack Obama’s health care law.

Grayson’s strategy did manage to energize liberals nationally, and he raked in $6 million for his campaign, way outspending Webster, who raised just $1.8 million. But the district’s voters had other ideas; they turned out Grayson decisively, 56% to 38%.

In the House, Webster was given a seat on the Rules Committee, a position usually reserved for members whom leaders can trust to hew to the party line. He became the first GOP freshman to get a substantive bill through the House, with a measure aimed at limiting executive bonuses at companies that received financial industry bailout funds. He expressed support for House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s attempts to rein in spending and overhaul Medicare, a position that earned him national publicity in April 2011 after a hostile crowd at a town hall meeting in his district jeered him. He also drew heavy flak in newspaper editorials when in May 2012 he added an amendment onto the Commerce Department’s budget bill ending the American Community Survey, a demographic study for tracking neighborhoods’ social and economic changes. Webster called the survey “intrusive” and “unconstitutional,” but his amendment was unsuccessful.

In the 2012 election season, Grayson talked about a rematch with Webster, but ended up running for – and winning – the seat in the adjoining 9th District. Webster was initially considered a shoo-in against Demings, the Orlando police chief, but she outworked and outraised the congressman, whose fundraising had been among the weakest of the GOP freshmen. The Democrat pulled ahead in the polls and got more than $2 million from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s newly-formed group to assist candidates who supported gun control, with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spending another $1.5 million. She repeatedly accused Webster of using taxpayer money to create a “lobbyists’ lounge” when he served in the legislature, a reference to his decision to spend about $100,000 for renovations to the speaker’s office suite. He adamantly denied that the remodeling was done to serve lobbyists. Despite his opponents’ efforts, the GOP tilt of the district proved decisive, and Webster notched a 52%-48% victory.

Daniel Webster Votes and Bills

National Journal’s rating system is an objective method of analyzing voting.
The liberal score means that the lawmaker’s votes were more liberal than that percentage of his colleagues’ votes.
The conservative score means his votes were more conservative than that percentage of his colleagues’ votes.
The composite score is an average of a lawmaker’s six issue-based scores.
See all NJ Voting

More Liberal

More Conservative

2013

2012

2011

Economic

27
(L) :
72 (C)

33
(L) :
64 (C)

-
(L) :
90 (C)

Social

27
(L) :
71 (C)

21
(L) :
75 (C)

29
(L) :
71 (C)

Foreign

43
(L) :
57 (C)

16
(L) :
81 (C)

16
(L) :
75 (C)

Composite

32.8
(L) : 67.2 (C)

25.0
(L) : 75.0 (C)

18.2
(L) : 81.8 (C)

Interest Group Ratings

The vote ratings by 10 special interest groups provide insight into a lawmaker’s general ideology and the degree to which he or she agrees with the group’s point of view.
Two organizations provide just one combined rating for 2011 and 2012, the two sessions of the 112th Congress. They are the ACLU and the ITIC.
About the interest groups.

The key votes show how a member of Congress voted on the major bills of the year.
N indicates a "no" vote; Y a "yes" vote. If a member voted "present" or was absent, the bill caption is not shown.
For a complete description of the bills included in key votes, see the Almanac's Guide to Usage.

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